Denis Smetanin

In his PhD thesis “Uncertainty at the Imperial Borderland? Local Politics and Public Sphere in Riga and Reval in Late Tsarist Russia”, Denis Smetanin examines the role of “uncertainty” as a governmental and communicative technology in shaping a new local political culture in Riga and Tallinn between 1860 and 1914. Here, “uncertainty” refers not simply to limited knowledge of the future or of the consequences of reform, but primarily to a mechanism for constructing future administrative realities. As an inherent feature of the reform process, it operated as a strategic instrument enabling actors to manipulate information or shape public perceptions in order to secure their position within the Baltic provinces’ political and social landscape. The study focuses on three themes: the use of uncertainty to manage debates on municipal self-government reform in Riga and Tallinn (1860–1877); the activities of municipal councils, the press, and urban associations, explored through governmental correspondence and periodicals; and the municipal reform of 1891, the introduction of a new judicial system, and the revolutionary events of 1905–1907—pivotal moments when uncertainty proved a significant political tool.

Denis Smetanin successfully completed his Master's program in History in Moscow, graduating with honors. From 2023 to 2024, he was awarded a fellowship from the German DAAD Foundation's One-Year Research Grant programme for doctoral candidates. He was employed in the Department of East European History at the University of Cologne under the supervision of Dr. Kirsten Bönker. Throughout the year, the doctoral candidate developed a project on the formation of civil society and local politics in Riga and Tallinn during the final years of Tsarist Russia. In December 2024, he was admitted to the doctoral fellowship programme "Uncertainty" at Zeit Stiftung Bucerius, becoming a Fellow of the programme. The dissertation under development, entitled “Uncertainty at the Imperial Borderland? Local Politics and Public Sphere in Riga and Reval in Late Tsarist Russia”, examines the significant impact of uncertainty on the emergence of novel communicative and managerial practices in Riga and Tallinn during the Late Tsarist period (1870–1914). The dissertation project is based at the University of Hamburg, and Denis Smetanin is associated with the Nordost-Institut for the duration of his scholarship (2025–2028).